< Yu Yu Hakusho

Yu Yu Hakusho/YMMV


  • Adaptation Displacement: The anime is way better known than the manga.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Even though he was an unbearable loudmouth, Byakko didn't deserve what Seiryu does to him when he fails too many times.
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: The anime made Sakyo out to be a character you can admire and sympathize with Alas, Poor Villain especially when he dies, while the manga makes him out to be a very rich businessman with very sick hobbies.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: With May 2011 came the announcement from FUNimation that they had the opportunity to remaster the entire Yu Yu Hakusho Series to Blu-Ray quality. Justin Cook, who still retains his position as Yusuke's VA and line producer, says that the entire main cast has agreed to come back to redo certain parts of the series that might have sounded unsatisfactory. Cook has also sneaked in an announcement that the cast is also willing to dub the movie and OVA specials as well.
    • Yeah, there was much rejoicing until the fandom found out the movie that was dubbed was the 30 minute short, not the 90 minute one. Small damper in the celebrations, but they're still rather happy that Eizou OVAs have finally been dubbed.
    • Also disappointing were the defects found in some of the DVD season box sets, which were only re-issues of the previous uncut 2-disc releases. No touched-up animation for you, non Blu-ray player owners.
  • Better on DVD: After Cartoon Network moved the series from Adult Swim to Toonami, they aired a Bowdlerised dub. Thankfully, they still sold the uncut dub alongside the on-air one.
    • There was one joke where the edited version was better. When Yusuke and crew were heading to the Dark Tournament, Hiei reacted to Yusuke's arrival by drawing his sword and trying to slice Yusuke while Yusuke dodged, in a high-speed motion blur for several seconds until Yusuke caught the sword. In the unedited version, Yusuke says, "Damn, Hiei, is this how you say hello now?". In the Toonami edit, he says "Hiei! I see you're improving your social skills!" with the right tone and timing to make a Crowning Moment of Funny. It helps that it's The Comically Serious Hiei.
  • Complete Monster: The prime examples are Elder Toguro, Gonzou Tarukane, and even the calm, cool, collected Sakyo. He explains at one point that he had no affections for his loving family and once had a job at a pet store where, late at night, he would torture the animals to pass the time, including a game of "seeing who could live the longest with their heart cut out".
    • Dr. Ichigaki. Seriously. Everything is an experiment to him, especially the lives of others. There's no one he won't torture, Mind Rape, or even kill in the name of complete success and victory.
    • The early appearing Gouki was fairly standard in the original manga, but depicted as this in the anime, where we see more visibly just how much he gets off on devouring the raw souls of children.
    • One of Shinobu Sensui's personalities, Kazuya, is deliberately designed to be one in order for Shinobu to redirect the guilt for his most heinous atrocities to him rather than himself.
  • Creepy Awesome: The Toguro Brothers, Karasu, & Shinobu Sensui.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: Each of the main characters, including the Big Bads, get them. Kuwabara alone has at least nine.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Yusuke's wake is an odd first episode example. A 14 year old kid goes from seriously believing that the world and everyone around him would be better off and not wanting to come back to life to wanting to try and live again after seeing how his mother, love interest, teacher, and rival all act.
  • Die for Our Ship: In spades. Keiko gets her fair share of this, but the biggest victim is actually Mukuro, who has beautifully written moments of warmth with Hiei (that differ in the manga and anime, but both have impact). Naturally, she is written off as a conceited whore that torments Hiei, allowing Kurama to come and rescue him.
    • Yoshihiro Togashi actually intended for Hiei and Mukuro to be a canon pairing, but the fan backlash that came about their Ship Tease was so severe that he canned it!
    • Let's not forget Maya Kitajima from the manga. Almost 90% of the few mentions she gets in the fandom are about how much of a "bitch" and a "slut" she is... merely for having a crush on her sempai Kurama!
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Sakyo gets this in canon in the anime, which gives him a romance with Shizuru and, as a result, an Alas, Poor Villain death. In the manga, he's a Complete Monster who never gets involved with Shizuru at all, and certainly nobody mourns his passing.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Oddly enough, the second judge during the Dark Tournament saga, Juri, proved to be a decently popular character despite only being in the show for the last quarter of that arc. The other judge, Koto, is also pretty well-liked.
    • Not to mention Chu and Jin, two characters who remain popular despite comparatively little screentime. Of course one of the factors of Chu's darkhorseness is because of his voice being Norio Wakamoto. And then this.[1]
      • And of course there's Hiei, who according to Word of God was just supposed to be a Starter Villain (clear with his more psychotic personality and "true demon form" showing), but whose popularity launched him to the status of one of the four main characters.
  • Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Kurama. Wanna know why? Well, let's run off the check list: Bishonen who happens to be a lot older then he looks, Badass, Red Wild Hair, Green Thumb, Green Eyes, likes roses, mama's boy, White-Haired Pretty Boy Demonic Form complete with Eyes of Gold, usually very polite, intelligent and witty, half the time wears a pink school uniform and last but certainly not least, his main weapon is a whip. Oh, we can't forget that male stalker too. Small surprise Kurama has sent many a fan girl's mind crash diving into the gutter.
  • Foe Yay: Yusuke and every single main villain. Plus, Karasu spends the last parts of the Dark Tournament coming on to Kurama; "Human bodies are so frail... I know you fear what my touch could do to you... yet maybe you also want to know it." All this while stroking his hair from behind.
  • God Mode Sue - Sensui. Deconstructed via With Great Power Comes Great Insanity.
  • Growing the Beard: For the series, the Four Saint Beasts arc. The dub version was Growing the Beard for FUNimation, who worried some fans because of the massive changes seen in Dragon Ball Z. Using experienced voice actors is the best way of appealing to an audience.
  • Ho Yay: Tons. Yu Yu is the granddaddy of Shōnen manga series using this trope to grab at the female demographic, and that's not even mentioning the canon gay couple. Not to mention Yusuke is neck-deep in Foe Yay at times. And let's not even start with Hiei and Kurama...
  • Jerkass Woobie: Hiei. It's not revealed until the third and final arc though.
    • Learning Hiei's backstory doesn't resurrect all the people he's killed, but it gives his actions meaning, and really turns him into a tragic hero.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Several of the villains, particularly Sakyou and Sensui, and also King Yomi. Kurama, despite technically being a good guy, occasionally shows aspects of this too.
    • Suzaku and Younger Toguro also qualify. The former for being the first villain to really get to Yusuke on a personal level, and the latter for being the true puppetmaster of the Dark Tournament, Out Gambitting even Sakyou.
  • Moral Event Horizon: (Even with his Freudian Excuse, some fans still can't forgive Younger Toguro for his brutal murder of Genkai, massacring half the tournament stadium, and even his false-killing of Kuwabara)
    • Elder Toguro doesn't know where to stop on this. Three words: Genkai puppet show.
      • Arguably taking over Makihara's body and torturing/killing him from the inside. And enjoying it thoroughly.
        • And then as Gourmet, he ate the mind reader, Murota, who had helped Yusuke and company out earlier.
    • What Dr. Ichigaki did to his "test subjects" will make you want to reach through the screen and strangle him. That, and his Annoying Laugh.
    • Gonzo Tarukane having one of his henchmen who tried to save Yukina gunned down, and using it as an example of what happens if Yukina tries to escape his torture of her again.
  • Narm: Even though Yu Yu Hakusho is usually good at avoiding this. It's really noticeable when it shows up. One such scene is with Sensui's sacred energy armor. Not only does it look funny but he just had to add to the narm by saying "I'm a living breathing sentient tank!"
  • Narm Charm: The Beautiful. Suzuka. Just watch episode 50. Watching an old lady royally kick a gay clown's ass all over the place with nothing but her bare hands is pretty damn hilarious. Suzuka's antics along with Genkai's responses to them are really what makes it work.
  • Nightmare Fuel: A lot of occurrences during the story are quite dark and nightmarish, such as some of the exploits of Sakyou and Elder Toguro.
  • Tear Jerker: The Dr. Ichigaki team in the Dark Tournament. The entire mini-arc, to the point were it's just plain painful to watch.
  • Uncanny Valley - When Sensui first returns to his true self, in both the anime and the manga, his overall expression looks like a normal person and even polite but the overall atmosphere and his too humanlike facial expressions tells you how wrong that is.
  • The Untwist: In-universe. There is no one who is surprised by who the "mysterious masked fighter" is in the Dark Tournament saga.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Touya is a very pretty boy, which would be fine. But he's also an ice demon, and the best known race of ice demons has been established to be entirely female. He is established to be a different species but it's still enough that some fans swear he's female.
    • Come on guys, Touya gets a mention but Kurama doesn't? One of the DUB STUDIOS thought he was female!
  • The Woobie: Kiyoshi Mitarai, a.k.a. Seaman. Also, Yukina in her introductory arc.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Sensui
    • Also, as mentioned above, three of the member of Dr. Ichigaki's team.
  • Woolseyism: "I know as much about games as I do hugs and puppies, and care for them even less. Wake me for the end of the world." The English dub is pure gold!
    • The implied romance between Younger Toguro and Genkai is much more accentuated in the dub, making their scenes far more heart-wrenching.
    • The supposed 100% strength of Toguro that was later surpassed by 100% over 100% was changed to "more like 85%" and TRUE 100% to make a bit more sense.
    • During the flashback of Itsuki meeting Sensui, Sensui asks if Itsuki has any regrets, and Itsuki names a TV show and a (at the time) celebrity who would be performing on it, which surprised Sensui because he watched the show too, and realized how...human Youkai were. They obviously couldn't name the TV show or celebrity in the dub because people wouldn't know who it is; but they still get the point across by having Itsuki say, "My favourite TV show will be on tomorrow".
  1. ↑ Ore no Chuu wa dorre da?
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